Cambridge to Matamata to Mclaren Falls to Tauranga to Rotorua.
More rain overnight and woke to a broken sky, threatening more rain. Had breaky at the van park and on the road by 9, en route to Matamata, a short drive away. Following the signs we made our way to Hobbiton, the site where part of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. It is now called a tourist farm but instead of growing tourists, they just fleece them (thanks Simon for the pun). A very slick setup with buses used to escort the tourists through the scenery/farm and just happen to go through their own cafe & gift shops, for a discounted price of $79 each. Spent some time debating whether to do it until 2 bus loads of tourists turned up and took over the whole show so we skipped out and continued driving north. Went on roads winding through endless lush green pastures, full of fat sheep & cows, bordered often by hedgerow fences and immaculate farmhouses.
Stopped at Mclaren Falls for coffee, but as usual, it started to rain and we had to finish and get inside. The falls were pretty modest at present, must be the only place in NZ that hasn't been drenched with rain.
Headed into Tauranga, the start of the Bay of Plenty. Is a much bigger city thaan we expected and took much longer to get through it. Set the gps to find the tourist info office, only for it and the local signs to fail us, until we asked a local man walking along the beach shore and he directed us to both the best beach frontage and also to a nice cafe from which to view the said ocean. We did both but had to do so from indoors due to the frequent showers.
Fed & watered, we headed out, stopping at a shopping mall to buy pillows, foam underlay, groceries & grog (all essentials for continuing happy camping).
An hours drive got us the 65km to Rotorua, through steady rain and arriving in darkness at the Blue Lake Caravan Park about 10km out of town. The sulphur smell is much less out here and the park is again of excellent standard.
Retired to the kitchen for drinks where Sue and Michelle found some more people to interrogate, this time a Dutch couple who own a small winery near Queenstown. They finally escaped to their table to play scrabble while we had a delicious dinner of pork steak & veg.
Retired with more showers passing over.

Cool day, showers to rain about 18C, a bit warmer on the coast and cooler inland.

Highlights
* So much green grass, almost too much!
* great views from the mountain pass.
* avoided paying $79 each for being driven around a tourist farm, Hobbington.
* had excellent meal in Mt Manganui.Read more

Not much travel today, just action.
Rained most of the night and the morning didn't offer much hope for a sumny day but we had plans so headed out after brekky to the other side of town to Canopy Tours for a Zipline experience. Zipline is where you are attached to a steel cable which is attached to 2 trees and then you zip along that cable.
What a great experience this morning was, without sounding like an advert for the company we went with, everything was outstanding. Sue was in fine form and created a great fun mood that everyone, including the 2 guides got right into the spirit.
After getting geared up, we were bundled into a mini van and driven about 15km out of town when they have set up their tour in an unlogged conservation area. We were taken on a 10 min walk thru the rainforest till we reached the 1st platform. A safety briefing, then we were sent 1 by 1 on our first zip line, set way up in the trees. Our party of 10 was mostly beginners so a bit of trepidation first up but then everyone was busting to get to the next zipline. 7 ziplines in total and 2 rope bridges. By the last 1 some of us we going off backwards & Simon successfully went upside down. It was showering but hardly noticeable under the rainforest canopy. The highest zipline was 22m off the ground.
At the end we had about 15min walk back, stopping a couple of time with our guides telling us how they use part of our entry fee to fund pest eradication projects in this area to allow native birds to recover in numbers.
After 3 1/2 hours we were debriefed, un loaded and sent on our way.
With some time to kill we headed into town and lunch a park which is dotted with natural hot springs, mud pools & stink of sulphur. As is the norm on this trip, it began raining before we finished lunch. So after a quick look around we went in search of a real geyser only to find the bigger ones are all locked away in private tourist areas, not for us today.
Through the rain we drove about 20 mins to our next activity, the Hells Gate, mud pools & geo-thermal park. Just as we arrived the staff we setting up for a traditional performance, we were allowed to sit in (at no extra cost). Consisted of 3 men & 3 women, Maori, performing some songs and stories from their family, from this very area. Lovely singing was very nice.
Time to get dirty - we got our gear, got changed and next thing we are sitting in a pool, covering ourselves in the black mud that is supposed to be heaps good for you. 20mins is allowed, then a shower and into the hot thermal pool for a relaxing soak before another shower to wash off the sulphur. Only Peter wsx silly enough to go in the ice cold plunge pool between other pools., no sense! Was raining, again, so we didn't do the walk through the geo thermal area.
Was getting dark as we found our way back to the caravan park in time for a drink, chat, some washing was done on the smelly clothes that had accumulated, dinner and early night declared as the rain tumbled down some more.

Weather was cool and showers to rain all day, did not really see the sun at all.

Highlights
*Ziplining,
*Ziplining in some amazing rainforest
* Ziplining with a great company and a good group.
* relaxing in a 40C mud bath, followed by a 40C thermal pool.
* getting to hear some lovely Maori singing
* should say that rain is a highlight but we are getting over it, the idea of campervsn is to enjoy the outdoors, but eating all meals indoors is not quite the same.Read more